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The Liberty Times
Editorial: Taiwan must get off China drug
When Wang Yi (王毅), director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, met with Taiwanese
living in the US while on a recent visit there, he expressed his views about
Taiwan’s upcoming presidential election — clearly an attempt to influence its
critically important result. Wang also said that the issue of a military threat
to Taiwan is absurd, saying that as long as President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) are in power and Taiwanese independence does not
become an issue again, there will be no missile issue or military problem. China
has already started its flagrant campaigning for Ma.
Beijing backs Ma because he goes along with China and the so-called “1992
consensus” on the “one China” principle. However, Beijing’s support for Ma is
not necessarily out of admiration for him. Rather, it pins its hopes on Ma’s
firm belief that eventual unification with China is inevitable.
Almost immediately after Wang was done promoting Ma, he warned Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and the 23 million people
of Taiwan that China would not accept anyone taking power who overturns the
“1992 consensus” and would most likely suspend current bilateral agreements —
such as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), Chinese tourists
visiting Taiwan and provincial-level buy-Taiwan delegations — if the DPP did win
power.
Wang gives us exactly the same false sense of improved cross-strait relations
and warmer ties as Ma. At what price are these so-called improvements made? Ma
sells Taiwan short by making it a part of China and he backs policies that
support an inevitable unification. Retired high-ranking military officers and
diplomatic officials have also recently made certain exchanges in favor of
Beijing’s facade of goodwill. However, as China openly declares that placing
sanctions on Taiwan is a possibility in the very near future, Wang’s words slice
right through Ma’s claims about improvements in cross-strait relations and
warming ties. It is becoming increasingly clear that whether Ma’s self-righteous
policies are allowed to continue really rests in the hands of the Chinese.
It is also worth noting that Wang keeps saying that Taiwan’s elections are an
issue which concerns Taiwan alone and has nothing to do with Beijing — just as
he says that the Taiwan issue is an internal issue for China. China’s
intervention in Taiwan’s presidential election simply becomes a matter of
course.
Why does Ma not protest China’s meddling in our nation’s elections? When Hans
van Baalen, vice chairman of the European Parliament’s Taiwan Friendship Group,
said if he were a citizen of Taiwan he would vote for Tsai, the Ma
administration sent its dogs out to reprimand him, saying it was unacceptable
for any foreign national to interfere in Taiwan’s domestic affairs. Shouldn’t
the Ma administration use the same standards in rebutting Chinese officials,
especially when they are using much stronger rhetoric and actions in their
attempts to control who becomes our president?
That Beijing keeps praising Ma for being a loyal subordinate is alarming and
causes many to speculate about whether he is really on Taiwan’s side, especially
since his neutral stance is exactly what wins him favor with Beijing in the
first place. In the past, whenever the opposition raised doubts about Ma’s
position on Taiwan, he typically rebutted their doubts immediately. Now,
however, as Wang lavishes praise on Ma — causing many of us to question Ma’s
loyalty — why doesn’t Ma rush to draw a clear line of demarcation between them
in order to regain the trust of Taiwanese? If he fails to do this, as the
election draws near and more Chinese officials come out showing their support
for him, who will believe him when he says he is a Republic of China citizen?
Also noteworthy is Wang’s grand claim that China’s military threat to Taiwan is
not an issue. This is just as preposterous as General Chen Bingde (陳炳德), the
People’s Liberation Army chief of staff, claiming on his recent US visit that
China does not currently have any missiles pointed at Taiwan. Of course, it can
easily be said that Wang and Chen are simply employing different means to
achieve the same end.
As Ma keeps promoting the benefits of cross-strait relations, China continues to
increase its military threat. Ma’s lies are only helping their cause. Beijing
denies outright having missiles pointed directly at Taiwan, saying that it is
not an issue. If Taiwanese and the international community fall for the Chinese
Communist Party and the KMT’s two-man gong show, a rationalization of China’s
military threat to Taiwan is inevitable and China’s use of military-threat
politics to put pressure on Taiwan will become commonplace.
Ma pays no heed to the more than 1,000 missiles aimed directly at Taiwan.
Instead, he continues to seek support for: the “1992 consensus”; direct flights
to and from China; the “three links” of direct post, transportation and trade;
the ECFA; Chinese tourists and students coming to Taiwan, and the sale of
Taiwanese agricultural produce in China.
Ma feels like he has outdone his predecessors, claiming these trade and tourism
agreements with Beijing as his own political achievements and avidly promoting
them at home and abroad.
All of these so-called achievements are a drug with which Beijing controls
Taiwan. The more of the drug Ma consumes, the easier he is to manipulate and the
easier it is to control Taiwan. Close your eyes and think about it for a minute:
If we let Ma serve another term as president and thus continue to depend on the
China drug, eventually no one will be able to win a presidential election. Isn’t
this the same as relying on Chinese leaders to appoint our president for us?
Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat
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